The First Order
by Rose098
Summary: A story following Minerva McGonagall throughout the First Wizarding War and the First Order of the Phoenix. This story shows the struggles of trying to defend the world against the dark while living her life to the fullest. AU where ages are changed.
1. Chapter 1

The First Order

Rated T for mild cursing. Harry Pooter and all references belong to Jk Rowling.

Chapter One

August 1957

Minerva sighed as she looked over her small, downtrodden flat that had been her home for the past 2 years. She could hardly believe that today was the day she would finally leave London to go back to Hogwarts to teach. Her appointment to Transfiguration professor had been in unfortunate circumstances she admitted to herself and she recalled the headline of the Daily Prophet 2 months earlier.

' _Headmaster Armando Dippet dies after a long illness with Dragon Pox'_

" _The much-loved headmaster of Hogwarts Armando Dippet has passed away after a lengthy illness of Dragon Pox. Upon his death, Albus Dumbledore, former Transfiguration professor was named as his successor as Headmaster of Hogwarts. Professor Dippet is succeeded by his grandchildren Anne, Ros and Ailsa and his great-grandchildren Poppy Pomfrey and Colin Spikler._ "

Of course, Minerva had immediately wrote a note to Poppy expressing her sympathies and sent it off with Darian, her loyal Screech owl. It was only after she had returned from her work in the Auror's office did she remember that now Dumbledore was headmaster there was a vacancy in the Transfiguration post. She eagerly wrote an application letter to Dumbledore that also expressed her sympathies as she knew that the former headmaster and Dumbledore were quite close as colleagues go. It was hours later that received an official letter from Hogwarts saying she was accepted in the post as Transfiguration professor.

And now it was finally time. Minerva gave the room the once over once again, it would not do to leave anything behind. She checked her watch, made sure she had a firm hold on her carpetbag and disapparated to the edges of Hogsmeade.

Minerva looked up after the tight, twisting feeling finally went away and smiled slightly. She could hardly believe that she would be teaching in Hogwarts in just under a month. The thought of the mountain of work to do set her off on a brisk walk up the long winding lane to the Hogwarts gates.

She was lucky she was so fit she thought to herself as she climbed the final steep hill of the lane. All the auror training had clearly paid off. As she approached the gates, she remembered her school days spent with her best friends, Poppy and Eveline. She reached her had out a touched the cold iron slightly before withdrawing.' That had ought to do it' she thought. She had only been waiting a few minutes when she could see the faint outline of a figure walking towards her. She smiled, already knowing who it was. Albus Dumbledore always had had such a distinctive walk, even when she a student. She remembered how close they were, after all he had taught her how to become an Animagus. With a slight wave of his hand, Albus opened the gates and strode out to embrace Minerva in a hug.

"It's been a while hasn't it Minerva? Or I suppose I should call you Professor McGonagall."

"Honestly Albus, you think 2 days is a while" she said, grinning at his mock-hurt expression.

"Shall we?" he gestured towards the castle. With a flick of her hand Minerva enchanted her carpet bag to levitate behind her as she and Albus chatted about times gone by and new beginnings on the walk up to the castle.

"Now, I trust you are glad to be back?" Albus asked.

"Very much so, I did enjoy the ministry work but I have always wanted to teach so here I am" said Minerva.

"Hmm, I vaguely remember a young Miss McGonagall teaching a rather large group of students after curfew a month before the OWLs because their new defence teacher was and I quote "incapable of teaching a class"."

Minerva blushed bright red on hearing this and said in a low but dangerously clear voice, "Mention that to anyone and I'll hex you into next week".

Albus physically backed away at this he knew for certain he didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of Minerva McGonagall's hexes. He quickly decided in his mind to change the subject and led her up the marble staircase to the Transfiguration classroom.

"Here we are." He said standing in her office. "Now if you say your password to this portrait, it will open up into your private quarters. For now, I Chose your password to be "Tabby"".

Minerva scowled inwardly at the return of her much-hated nickname and followed Dumbledore as he led her into her sitting room. Once inside she flicked her wand in the general direction of her carpetbag and heard it drop to the floor. Looking around, she was satisfied to see it was decorated in red and gold, her house colours.

"I will leave you now to unpack and relax, I suppose I will see you at dinner in the staff room?" Albus asked softly. He was satisfied that his choice of colour scheme had been the right one judging by the look on Minerva's face.

"Yes, thank you Albus", Minerva answered with a small smile. As Albus left she quickly walked over to each of the doors and looked into each of her new rooms. Her bedroom was decorated in a beautiful deep maroon colour. She sighed as she took off her boots and lay on the soft bed.

The next thing she remembered was opening her eyes. She sat up in confusion before she remembered where she was. "Shit! I must've fallen asleep!" she cursed inwardly as she jumped out of bed summoned her boots and did a quick charm n her hair to make it look like she had not just rolled out of bed. She cast a quick 'Tempus' and cursed again as she realised just how late she was. She was 25 minutes late for dinner. Minerva McGonagall was not known for her tardiness an she couldn't have picked a worse day to go for a nap. She pulled her office door open and raced towards the staffroom before stopping and opening the door softly. She groaned inwardly when she saw the entire Hogwarts staff that was present currently in the castle turn to look at her from their meal.

"So sorry I'm late everyone" she muttered. She honestly wished the ground would swallow her up.

"Malcolm, I'd like to introduce Minerva McGonagall, the newest Transfiguration professor. Minerva, this is Malcolm Ottoburn, our astronomy professor."

Minerva gave him a curt nod before taking the only available chair. She looked up and was surprised to see so many familiar faces, Professors Slughorn, Merrythought and Otwick were present. Osburn Otwick taught charms and had only begun teaching the year after she had left but they were friends through Albus.

She made small conservation with Osburn throughout dinner as she never held Slughorn and his "Slug Club" in high regard after her tried to recruit her to it 5 years ago.

As Minerva stood up to leave, Osburn stood with her and insisted on walking her back to her rooms.

"You look exhausted Minerva" he said to her softly as they walked. "What happened?".

"Thank you very much for your compliment Osburn and nothing has happened." She snapped back. She immediately regretted it when she saw the look of hurt on Filius' face. "Oh, I'm sorry Osburn. I'm just tired, I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight Minerva" he said softly before pulling her into a hug. "Look after yourself".

And with the thought of looking after herself she went straight to bed and slept straight until morning.

Please leave reviews. I plan to make this a multi-chapter story.


	2. Chapter 2

The First Order

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I don't own this amazing world or characters, all credit goes to JK Rowling.

Chapter 2

15th August 1957

"What do you mean Professor Merrythought has decided to retire?!"

"It means exactly what it sounds like Minerva, Galatea has decided to retire on short notice. Apparently, she has been thinking about it for quite a while and only decided to tell me last night." Albus explained. The frustration was evident on his face, he now had to find a new Defence teacher with 15 days left until the start of term.

"She does realise term starts in 15 days, doesn't she? And she couldn't have waited for another year?" Minerva asked. She was furious, honestly, she couldn't believe a woman Galatea's age had seen fit to announce her retirement now. She had a good mind to go and give Galatea a piece of her mind but ultimately decided against it as it would seem unprofessional, especially when she could spend that time looking for candidates. She would really have to keep control of her temper she pondered but alas, that was a problem for another day.

"I know, Minerva, but I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave because I am expecting a candidate for the post in", he looked at his watch, "two minutes."

"Fine Albus, I'll go and draft some advertisements to the Daily Prophet and contact a few old acquaintances to see if they are interested." Albus nodded and she turned and headed for the door. She was lucky her and Albus were so close really as he understood her thought process. If this was a different headmaster however, she wouldn't dare to speak to him or her the way she spoke to Albus, she mused as she walked down the gargoyle steps. She didn't even see the young man standing at the foot of the steps.

"Oh, forgive me, I wasn't looking where I was going" she exclaimed as she all but walked into him. She looked up as she said this to him and was shocked to see what she saw. It was Tom Riddle, he was a few years ahead of her in school. However, this was not the Tom Riddle she remembered. The Tom Riddle of her youth had been charming and handsome; however, he was now different, in a way that she couldn't put her finger on. He almost seemed less human but how that was possible she didn't know. Tom glared at her and strode up the stairs to Albus' office. She looked behind her in confusion before continuing to her quarters.

As she walked, she remembered the past 2 weeks of her life in Hogwarts. Most of the professors had come back as they had lessons to plan and classrooms to sort. She had met Rolanda Hooch, the new flying instructor last week in the staff room. Rolanda had been a 7th year Gryffindor when Minerva joined Hogwarts so they were mere acquaintances but in the past week the two witches had grown surprisingly close, perhaps because of their closeness in age. Minerva liked Rolanda, she decided as she walked to her office. She was fond of pranks, often annoying and was a bit of an idiot at times but at least she was good fun. Albus had taken to having nightly meetings with Minerva to discuss lesson plans and curriculum and also to play a chess game if they had time. Minerva smiled at this thought, it reminded her of how far ahead she was in the tally of chess games, Albus had only won 1 out of 8 while she had outsmarted him all the other times. He really wasn't the best strategist.

As she said the password to her portrait, 'Courage', she was surprised to see an owl waiting for her. "Good boy" she murmured as she took the letter from the owl and frowned as she saw the handwriting. What on earth could Elphinstone want. Elphinstone Urquart was her old boss at the ministry and although they had got on well with each other he was still disappointed to see her leave. She put the letter to one side and sent the owl to the owlery, she had more important things to do now. She fished out a piece of parchment and a quill and quickly drafted an advertisement to the Daily Prophet. She decided that she would ask Albus to review it tonight at their meeting tonight before sending it off to the prophet.

Several hours later Minerva put her quill down and rubbed her head. She really had the most dreadful headache. In hindsight, it probably wasn't smart to skip lunch. She contemplated whether it was worthwhile to go to the Hospital Wing to get something for her headache before deciding against it, the walk was too far and anyway, dinner was starting soon. Minerva walked to her full-length mirror and decided to change from her deep blue robes to an emerald green. These ones were lighter and the cut was more flattering in her opinion. Now, what to do with my hair, she mused. Leaving it as it was was the simplest but she fancied a change and decided a French chignon would be pretty. With a quick flick of her wand and a handful of pins, she swept down the corridor and into the staff room. Looking around she was pleased to see that she was on time and took her seat in between Albus and Rolanda, the latter late, as usual.

"Good evening Albus" she murmured to him as she sat down. She could tell that something was bothering him but knew it would be pointless to ask, especially here, in the staff room where anyone could overhear.

"Good evening Minerva, did you draft an advertisement?"

"Yes, I was thinking I could bring it up with me when we have our meeting tonight?" Minerva asked, however seeing Albus' expression she quickly added "Or tomorrow night, if you are too tired or busy".

"Tonight would be fine, at around 9pm should suit me." Albus replied. He then turned away from Minerva and appeared to be deep in thought. Minerva took this as her chance to eat, a delicious Shepard's pie. She wasn't left without conversation for long before Rolanda dropped into the seat beside her.

"Hey, are you going to go to the Magpies game next Saturday" Rolando asked Minerva with her mouth full of food. She really had the most dreadful manners Minerva thought. Rolanda didn't seem to notice the look of disdain on her friends face or she didn't care. It was probably the latter.

"I don't plan too Rolanda, some of us have lessons to plan" Minerva answered tersely. Honestly, people these days. At least Rolanda didn't have to plan lessons Minerva thought darkly. With that she decided she didn't want to talk to anyone anymore and left the staffroom. Her headache still hadn't gone away and Rolanda's manners had put in a bad mood. She was lucky she didn't come across Galatea along the way back to her office she mused or she would've hexed her for putting her and Albus in such a stressful situation. When she arrived back at her quarters. She looked around the room at the many bookshelves packed with books and selected one on the many theories of Animagus transformation and behaviour and began to read.

At exactly 9pm, Minerva knocked on Albus' door holding the advertisement. She stepped inside his office at his invitation and sat down, handing him the advertisement which he then put to one side to her dismay. She had wanted to put that in the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. She looked at him expectantly, he had a pensive expression.

"I suppose you are wondering how the interview went after you left this morning" Albus stated. "Not well I'm afraid. I trust you recognized the candidate?". Minerva nodded. "Tom Riddle has changed and I fear irrevocably. Did you sense anything about him?"

"After my time as an Auror" Minerva began, "I learned to be able to sense and recognize signs of dark magic. I don't sense this off Tom, not yet, but there is something about him that is dark, dangerous, not human I would even go as far to say."

"I am glad we share the same views Minerva. That is exactly why I refused him the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. I'm afraid I must ask you not to share your suspicions about what he is to anyone. We mustn't forget how talented he was at school and if that magic has been put into Dark Arts as I suspect, I shudder to think what he might be capable of. Now, on a slightly happier note, I do believe I have found our new Defence teacher."

A/N: Hi Guys! So, I finished Chapter 2 earlier than expected and I hope you like it. As you can tell, I'll expect this story to be quite long and the chapters will be getting longer too. Please, if you have time, leave a review, a simple "Can't wait for more" means the world. Thank you-Rose


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